Product Description
YULE-TIDE In Many Lands with illustrations and photographs (1916). The definitive guide to Christmas Yule Tide. Yule or Yuletide (“Yule-time”) is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar (Julian calendar) was adopted. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt. Terms with an etymological equivalent to “Yule” are used in the Nordic Countries for the Christian Christmas (with its religious rites), but also for other holidays of the season. Yule is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule. In modern times, Yule is in the Nordic Countries becoming more of a pure cultural festival equivalent to the Midsummer celebration.[clarification needed] A number of Neopagans have introduced their own rites. Yule is the modern English representative of the Old English words geol or geohol and geola or geoli, with the former indicating “(the 12-day festival of) Yule”